According to the human rights defending NGO, the first massacre of the year took place yesterday in the San Antonio district of the Jamundí municipality, Valle del Cauca department, where three Venezuelan men were murdered.

The deceased had lived in the area for five years and were engaged in construction work, according to official sources.

The Ombudsman’s Office issued an early warning to Jamundí indicating that “exemplary” homicides have taken place in the municipality against people who have opposed or transgressed the behavioral guidelines that illegal groups impose on the locals.

This type of action intensified in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, added the Ombudsman.

The year 2021 was one of the most violent for Colombia, with 96 massacres and a balance of 335 deaths, according to the Indepaz Observatory of Human Rights and Conflict.

Clashes took place this weekend between armed groups, leaving at least 23 deaths in Arauca, a department on the border with Venezuela, which has shocked the country.

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